Laboratory of synthetic organic chemistry
4 | Design and synthesis of high-performance transition metal complex catalysts and development of novel environmentally-benign synthetic organic reactions
The mission of our research is to establish the reaction system including the asymmetric carbon-hydrogen bond activation using transition metal catalysts, which is essential for synthetic organic chemistry in the 21st century to prepare desirable compounds with low environmental load. This system opens the door for the efficient synthesis of target organic molecules with complicated structures but unfortunately the development is halfway. In order to achieve the mission, we planed to use transition metal complexes having a metal-centered chirality, prepared by means of our designed Ind-P ligand, as catalysts. We are currently studying the synthesis and reactivity of transition metal complexes bearing the Ind-P ligand, and the development of asymmetric reactions and C-H bond activations using these complexes.
Fig. 1 An Iridium complex having an Ind-P ligand with three different chiral sources.
Fig. 2 Asymmetric C-H bond functionalization.
5 | Development of environmental load-reducing catalytic reactions and creation of novel transition metal complexes
Our research aims to develop environmental load-reducing organic transformation reactions of hydrocarbons to valuable compounds. We have recently developed highly atom-efficient synthesis of polyfunctionalized alkenes by linear codimerization of simpler alkenes, and synthesis of terminal acetals via regioselective nucleophilic attack of diols to terminal alkenes. Transition metal complexes are the key materials and work as catalysts in these reactions.
Creation of novel transition metal complexes with unique architectures toward the development of desirable catalytic functions is another research topic. For example, tiara-like octanuclear group 10 transition metal thiolates and their inclusion complexes with small molecules, and tweezers-like bimetallic complexes having a novel ligand, bpyf, in which two bipyridyl groups are bridged by a ferrocenyl moiety, were successfully synthesized and their reactivity is under investigation.
Fig. 1 Transition metal-catalyzed efficient transformation reactions of alkenes.
Fig. 2 A tiara-like octanuclear palladium complex including a small organic molecule.
